Change Your Image
zbbetty
Reviews
Our Story Our Voice (2007)
A New Voice of Social change
I love Michael Moore, I loved the corporation. However these still represent "white" voices. Good white voices but white voices. And in a plural world, as the film says, there should be a multi-representation of through in all areas of people activity and subjects. Our Story Our Voice is another master piece from Owen Alik Shahadah who battles with a difficult political topic to produce a doc which has your eyes glued to the screen. I saw this film when it opened at PAFF and I had some popcorn, it was not a good idea. From the explosive montage at the beginning to the end, I found it difficult to have to reach out and put the popcorn in my mouth. The film required full engagement. It is very fast moving and loaded with content, quotes, music effects, narration, images, stock footage from amazing locations around the world. And the content is like everything you thought but never read in the White newspapers. This is not a racial film, it is a political film but it is interesting how race and ultimately the perspective are linked. I think had this very topic been done by Michael Moore or those other people it would be very different. Because they would be capturing an inescapable experience which is white. Nothing wrong with this as long as we understand the need for plurality in cinema and story telling. This film testifies to the need for truly independent media from oppressed groups.
The Idea (2006)
The Idea was a good idea, very unique
I saw this film with a special screening of the work of Owen Alik Shahadah. It is so interesting where did this guy come from. Now he is probably the key independent African filmmaker in the world. And I am not talking about black filmmakers I am talking about filmmakers who are rooted in culture. The idea if anything testifies to the diversity and range of African themes, with his film 500 Years Later it is a African issue. But the Idea doesn't fit that mold. Showing the artistic diversity. The film is an all African cast but the topic is a human topic which most of us could relate to. I just love the mild comedy in it. And the Kora of Tunde Jegede is just amazing, it is really a art-house gem.
500 Years Later (2005)
A Seminal Work in Film
Rarely does a film fit an academic social seat as well as an informative entertaining one. 500 Years Later apart from being unique a first in the history of African story. It sounds strange but this film is actually the first film to chart a holistic journey of the African Diaspora from 500 Years ago in the most Pan-African way. It is inclusive of all religions; there is even a Jewish African Rabbi from Ghana, Muslims, Christians, indigenous religions. It visually celebrates the Amharic script and the Adnikra Symbols from Ghana. And everything about the film is African. The first language you hear at the beginning of the film is Akan, an African language. The first music you hear is the Kora, which comes from the legacy of Ancient Mali.
It has an narrated style, allowing the interviewee uninterrupted purity. The list is so long but also what impresses me, and which will probably be the statement it makes to others the economic self-determination. The film was 100% an African enterprise without compromise. They didn't use borrowed money, money from gambling, money from "impure" sources. This is a spiritual statement. And all of this was done in line with something called the African Code which identifies 7 principles for development which the film stuck to. So to understand this is as someone else said, much more than a film. A cultural treasure in the annals of human history.